John Bradshaw - Why We Risk Our Lives Every Day for Jesus
John Bradshaw: Dwayne and Wendy, thanks so much for being here, I really appreciate it. Thanks for taking your time. So you're in the Philippines now. Where in the Philippines are you?
Dwayne Harris: We're on the island of Mindanao, which is the far south big island. Right now, we have been over most of the country but our current place we reside is Mindanao.
John Bradshaw: OK, so when you say you reside... mission... are you living in a windowless hut? Tell me something... describe your physical location. Where would we find you if we came to visit?
Dwayne Harris: Well, we are an aviation ministry, and we are living on the campus or on the property of Mountain View College, which is a well-known Adventist college there in the Philippines...
John Bradshaw: OK, yeah.
Dwayne Harris: ...where we've built an air base, so we have a hangar there and a little house to the side.
John Bradshaw: So you fly, you fly around the Philippines. Hey, let's back up. Before we talk about your work there, your aviation ministry in the Philippines... and I'm hoping you can tell me at least one good mission story... let's talk about you. We'll start with you, Wendy. What's your background? What led up to you being a full-time missionary?
Wendy Harris: I actually grew up in a missionary home, so my parents have been missionaries a lot of my life in different countries in Asia mostly.
John Bradshaw: So where did you live as a kid?
Wendy Harris: I was born in Hong Kong, also spent years in Bangladesh, Singapore, Philippines.
John Bradshaw: Okay, so you got around. And evidently, you caught the bug, and it's stuck with you. You served as a missionary when you were younger, maybe a teenager... is that correct? About that time?
Wendy Harris: As a... with AFM...
John Bradshaw: You're with AFM.
Wendy Harris: ...I served in... I wasn't... I was already graduated from college...
John Bradshaw: Okay.
Wendy Harris: ...actually, and so, soon after I graduated, a couple of years after I graduated from college, that was my plan, to go be a missionary for the rest of my life. I went to Nepal, and because of visa reasons, I had to leave after seven months or so, and then God called me to the Philippines, where my parents were already serving.
John Bradshaw: Okay.
Wendy Harris: I was with AFM, so in a different area, but...
John Bradshaw: Do you have to be a resilient sort of a person? I'm thinking this through, and, you know, I ask about the windowless hut because, you know, that's... we read mission stories as kids... or some people read them while they were kids... and missionaries in far-flung desperate places. But does it make you resilient? I think what I'm wanting to ask you, does much surprise you now? You went to Nepal, you were all over Asia, and I'm not suggesting it was the most grueling of lives, but boy, oh boy, from a cultural perspective, it was something new every morning.
Wendy Harris: It's very different.
John Bradshaw: Does it make you very adaptable person?
Wendy Harris: Yeah, I think it does, for sure.
John Bradshaw: So if we dropped you down in some... challenged corner of the world, of all people, you might be the one that's gonna stick it out...
Wendy Harris: Maybe better than your average...
John Bradshaw: Better than your average.
Wendy Harris: ...American person that comes straight out there.
John Bradshaw: Yeah, OK. So how about you, Dwayne, were you raised as a, in a mission family?
Dwayne Harris: Well, I was raised in an Adventist home on a farm-ranch in Montana.
John Bradshaw: So as a kid, what were you gonna grow up to be? A farmer?
Dwayne Harris: Well, that was what I knew... farmer, cowboy.
John Bradshaw: Yeah, yeah, and didn't work out very well, I guess. I mean, that plan didn't work out. What happened?
Dwayne Harris: Well, I always had an interest in aviation, you know, airplanes and stuff, growing up. But I lost that, I guess, focus on where to go with life as I was getting into college and stuff. And I was pursuing the cowboy, rodeo, bull riding...
John Bradshaw: Oh, is that right?
Dwayne Harris: ... thing for a little while. But then God kind of got my focus switched back on aviation. And kind of a long story, but God opened the opportunities for me to be able to use aviation in missions.
John Bradshaw: Yeah. This is good, but let's go back. You were a bull rider for a while?
Dwayne Harris: I was.
John Bradshaw: Now, those are some tough guys, but I don't know where tough ends and crazy begins. What's it like climbing on the back of a bull before they open that gate for the first time?
Dwayne Harris: It's an adrenaline rush. That's what, I guess, is the attraction of it.
John Bradshaw: I'm just wondering. So are you an adrenaline guy? I know you were in the National Guard for a while, learned to fly helicopters. Flying heli... some people fly kites. You fly helicopters. Some people ride bicycles. You were riding bulls. Some people have office jobs where everything is predictable. You're living in the mission field, where much is unpredictable. So are you wired a certain way that makes you a likely candidate for mission work?
Dwayne Harris: I'm a risk taker.
John Bradshaw: You are a risk taker.
Dwayne Harris: I like taking risks.
John Bradshaw: Yeah. OK, I see. Some of that's probably good doing what you're doing.
Dwayne Harris: Well, and when you can make those risks for the Lord, it's better than just making them just for the sake of adrenaline.
John Bradshaw: Yeah, yeah, absolutely right. So you came into mission work. You learned to fly helicopters. Doors opened up. How did you get to the Philippines, of all places? Now, Wendy, you said your parents were there. So that was a gateway.
Wendy Harris: Actually, AFM called me there from Nepal when I had to leave Nepal.
John Bradshaw: OK, so you went there as a missionary, and you had a family connection.
Wendy Harris: Yeah.
John Bradshaw: Yep. How about you?
Wendy Harris: Yep.
Dwayne Harris: Well, I was flying helicopters for the National Guard, and through...
John Bradshaw: And thank you for your service, by the way.
Dwayne Harris: Through a series of, I think, divine providences... God got my attention kind of focused back on my relationship with Him, which was lukewarm at best. And after I got that focus shifted back on the Lord, I just really was praying and asking God to show me, you know, what He wanted to do with my life. And I don't know how long we wanna go into the story of my experience with the National Guard, but God got me out of the National Guard before I was supposed to be and opened the doors immediately thereafter to go to the Philippines and start an aviation ministry.
John Bradshaw: To do mission work, yeah, fantastic. Now, before long, we're going to ask you about... a tragedy that occurred involving people you knew and loved and knew very well. Mission work can be really dangerous, can't it? In the old days of mission work, the Scottish missionary John Paton went to what was the New Hebrides... today Vanuatu... cannibals and all kinds of strife. At that time, his wife and child died. And back in Scotland, there was a whole gaggle of people who put their hand up and said, "We will go. We will go"." So, risks may be a little different today, and they're not all the same all around the world. When it comes to mission work, I understand... I'm sure you have to be adaptable, and you have to know that, man, anything can happen at any time. Maybe that's life, but in mission work, that seems to be true. So why did you choose to go and start a ministry? How many years have you... has your ministry been established?
Dwayne Harris: I went over over 16 years ago.
John Bradshaw: OK, so you've been up and running for a time. And you're not coming home any time soon. That is home, I suppose.
Wendy Harris: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
John Bradshaw: So you've signed up for this. This is a, this is a life.
Wendy Harris: Mm.
John Bradshaw: What goes through your mind when you sense that... why do that? Like, you signed up, basic... things can change. But you signed up for the rest of your life on the other side of the world, far from your families, far from the creature comforts you grew up with. Why?
Dwayne Harris: I've done a lot of different things, you know, in my life growing up and occupation-wise and stuff. And I enjoyed 'em... you know, flying helicopters in the military, riding bulls, various other things I've done. I enjoy doing 'em. But there's nothing that has led to the fulfillment and satisfaction in life that I've done that compares to serving God in the capacity, you know, as a mission pilot in more direct frontlines ministry.
John Bradshaw: So Wendy, somewhere back there... I mean, you went to college. You got a degree. You had parents. You'd been raised in the mission field, essentially, so maybe you're leaning in that direction. But as a young woman, you know, you're looking ahead at the rest of your life, and you're saying, you know, I could get a nice career and drive nice cars. And it's not just about the stuff... have a very settled and predictable lifestyle. I'm going to ask the question, same question I asked your husband: Why would you do that? You're a ministry... I mean, how... people donate, correct?
Wendy Harris: Mm-hmm.
John Bradshaw: So you're financed. That's risky.
Wendy Harris: By faith.
John Bradshaw: It could dry up tomorrow.
Wendy Harris: Mm-hmm.
John Bradshaw: What switch flipped in your mind that said, "This is the right thing to do"? I'm not intimating it's the wrong thing to do. But it's certainly a rare thing to do. How did things line up in your mind to say, yes, this... I've got to go and step into this very unsecure... I don't mean insecure... but unsecure, uncertain existence?
Wendy Harris: I think the knowledge, you know, understanding how much of the world does not have access to even knowing who Jesus is, and, you know, having this access to a wonderful, abundant life. And for me to just be at... I was not satisfied. I'm not happy in a, you know, a normal life in the U.S. with that knowledge. So I think that was a big thing for me, is just... you know, and I had the background of being comfortable in another country, and there's not that many people, maybe, that are willing and able to go to another country. So I really felt called by God to go and help and serve also less-fortunate people. As a nurse, I wanted to help people.
John Bradshaw: You felt called by God.
Wendy Harris: I did.
John Bradshaw: So I want to hear from both of you. Explain that. What's that like? How do you recognize that as the voice of God? How do you know you're called by God? You could have been out of your mind. And clearly many people serve in various places around the world, and so this is not a unique experience. But I'd like you to kind of put into words what it's like to hear that call, consider that, and then know that as the voice of God. How do you arrive at that?
Dwayne Harris: When you're in God's Word, studying and seeking Him, God typically will guide, you know, with circumstances. And if we're praying and asking Him to guide us and open the doors for the direction He wants us to head, if we keep following those open doors, He'll lead us wherever that might be.
John Bradshaw: Wendy, in your experience, was there a moment... and I don't know if your pathways were different. You were raised around mission work, so it was clearly less foreign to you than to Dwayne. But was there a moment that you felt, this is really God calling me. Was there a moment, or was it more like a process?
Wendy Harris: I think it was more of a process. I do remember trying to decide my last couple years in academy what career I was going to take. And at that time, you know, praying if... because my parents didn't tell me I needed to be a missionary or encourage...
John Bradshaw: No?
Wendy Harris: ...you know, they were letting me decide what I wanted to do with my life. And I started looking into the medical field and praying if God wanted me to be a missionary. And anyway, long story, but I finally chose nursing for the purpose of having the, kind of a general, practical skill I could use to help people in the mission field
John Bradshaw: So when you went to college, you enrolled in nursing.
Wendy Harris: I was planning to be a missionary.
John Bradshaw: This was it.
Wendy Harris: That was it.
John Bradshaw: This is God's call. I'm getting skilled so I can go do this work. OK, so tell me what you guys do down there in the Philippines. What do you do?
Dwayne Harris: Well, we operate small aircraft, both helicopters and airplanes, and to the remote, hard-to-reach areas, supporting both logistically with supplies like the AFM project, and we do a lot of medical evacuations. So the helicopters we use in the mountainous areas because you can't... no airstrips, terrain is too rugged to be able to put in any kind of airstrip.
John Bradshaw: Yeah.
Dwayne Harris: So helicopters are the only option, other than walk. And then the airplanes, there's a lot of small islands scattered out around that are, you know, anywhere from a 4- to a 24-hour boat ride, out to the nearest help. But they have, like, small grass airstrips on them. But no other airplanes typically go out to those areas. So, we service those with the aircraft. And, you know, we're kind of the lifeline for anything that's serious, because they don't have anything but simple clinics.
John Bradshaw: Now as a missionary, are you just helping churchy people? There's a church member out on island X who has a ruptured appendix. You've got to go get that person? Or are you helping everybody?
Dwayne Harris: We help anyone and everyone.
John Bradshaw: So you really are the lifeline.
Dwayne Harris: Yeah.
John Bradshaw: What would happen if you guys went away?
Dwayne Harris: They'd have a lot more people dying, because they don't have... can't get off the island to more advanced medical care.
John Bradshaw: So your mission work is literally saving lives. Give me an example. Wendy, how about you? Give me an example of a situation, either of you. Tell me, tell me about a situation. We'd love to have an idea what that looks like.
Dwayne Harris: A lot of the medical stuff we do, actually, are pregnancy complications. So, you know, a woman goes into labor. She can't deliver. The, you know, clinic there doesn't have the capacity to do a C-section. She can't get off there, you know, sometimes within hours... she's going to die, maybe the baby, too.
John Bradshaw: Oh, wow.
Dwayne Harris: So, you know, being able to get them off, you know, quickly and get 'em transferred to another hospital that they can perform a C-section or something similar to that.
John Bradshaw: Yeah.
Dwayne Harris: There's been other cases, you know, even guys out fishing with dynamite, which is illegal, but they'll blow their hand off or some other thing, and yeah.
Wendy Harris: In the mountains, it's usually more malaria, typhoid, sometimes falling out of trees, or...
John Bradshaw: Oh, wow.
Wendy Harris: But they often wait till they're really, really, really bad before they'll call us, and...
John Bradshaw: Yeah, so this is, literally, a life-saving ministry.
Dwayne Harris: Yeah.
John Bradshaw: Are you busy some, busy always, too busy? How much work is there for flying missionaries?
Dwayne Harris: Well, we're always busy. It's not always the flying and the medical, but there's a lot of other things and aspects to our ministry, aside from just the aviation and the medical side as well, that takes time and work.
John Bradshaw: Yeah. So have there ever been times that you've just said, "I'm done with this; I want to go home"? Does it ever get frustrating? I guess you've been there long enough... to go home would be to remain where you are. But have you ever had those moments where you've said, "I don't know if we can put up with this any longer"? Or you might... maybe the better question is, what are the real challenges that make a missionary's life difficult in your context?
Dwayne Harris: I haven't ever seriously considered leaving again or leaving.
Wendy Harris: There's times we wished...
John Bradshaw: Yeah, yeah.
Wendy Harris: ...that we could leave, or...
John Bradshaw: Yeah.
Dwayne Harris: But really, you know, we've... the Philippines is a very easy place to work overall. And, you know, yeah, there's some bureaucracy and challenges you deal with with the government at times. And oftentimes, I guess some of the most challenging things have been just keeping everyone getting along.
John Bradshaw: Yeah. So in a moment, I want to ask you about something that happened that has to be very, my guess is, difficult to talk about. You are an aviation ministry. And things go great as long as things go great. When things don't go great, the potential is there for things to go really badly. And something happened in the not-too-distant past that went really badly, and a couple of lives were lost. So, we'll talk about that in just a second. Thanks for joining us. With Dwayne and Wendy Harris, I'm John Bradshaw. This is our conversation, brought to you by It Is Written.
John Bradshaw: Welcome back to "Conversations," brought to you by It Is Written. My guests are Dwayne and Wendy Harris, missionaries in the Philippines. They run an aviation ministry... a life-saving aviation ministry. As I mentioned a moment ago, things are great. Flying is wonderful as long as it's wonderful. But when you're flying, if something were to go wrong, things can go really bad. I wonder if you would walk me through what happened where an accident occurred. Two lives were lost. Take me back to that day. Let's sort of relive that as much as we can.
Dwayne Harris: Well it was March 1, and I was in Mindanao doing some... actually going to pick up a little dozer someone had given to us, and I got a call from one of our pilots there in Palawan, one of our other air bases, and told me that Daniel, the helicopter pilot there, had not returned from a flight. He had made a flight down to the furthest south island that he ever would go to. It's Malaysia right after that. And so he'd made it down there and was on his way back. And we all, as pilots, carry these GPS trackers. So they send out a position report every 10 minutes, and it had... he was about halfway back when that quit sending out position reports. And so Andrew, our other pilot... he was an airplane pilot... he had been monitoring that and noticed that it had quit sending out position reports. And, you know, that's not always an immediate cause for concern. You know, maybe the battery went dead or something, but, you know, he was overdue time-wise. He still should have been back. And Janelle, a nurse that was working with us, was also on board with him. And he had picked up three people... a patient, her sister to accompany her, and her husband. And they were coming back to the hospital there.
John Bradshaw: So five people in total.
Dwayne Harris: Yeah, and Andrew asked me what I thought he should do. And I told him, well, if, you know... "Get an airplane ready, and if they're not "back within another 30 minutes, take off and go out and see if you can see anything from the air".
John Bradshaw: What goes through your mind? You've done this a lot. You've flown at very high level. You're an expert and experienced pilot. The tracker stops sending signals, and he's late. You know that there's a continuum; he's perfectly fine; the worst has happened. When you assess that situation, where's the needle in your mind?
Dwayne Harris: Well, I don't get immediately concerned because, you know, other things can happen. You know, maybe he had to divert somewhere and land or something.
John Bradshaw: Okay.
Dwayne Harris: So, you know, the initial minutes, I'm just kind of, you know, I start praying that God will be, you know, with them wherever they're... whatever is going on. And then, you know, Andrew went out with the airplane shortly after and started looking. By the end of the day, you know, he went out there four hours in the air just circling back and forth, combing the whole area where that last position report had been sent out by that GPS tracker. The end of the day, he calls me back and says, you know, "We didn't see anything". At that point, you know, the likelihood that something really catastrophic or bad happened, you know, is up here.
John Bradshaw: So at that point... I'm going to use the word "know"... did you know then that the worst had happened? And you know what I mean when I say "know". There's always hope. You're holding out hope. Maybe he landed someplace, but he's going to call. You're going to get the pings. Was that the moment that the realization came to you, this is bad?
Dwayne Harris: Yeah, you know, that something clearly had happened, and, you know, we, of course, try to do training, you know, on how to get out of an aircraft if you have to ditch it in the water and stuff like that. And everyone was wearing life vests, you know, that were on board the aircraft. That was kind of something we did, you know, with everyone. And yet, no, you know, not seeing anything or anyone...
John Bradshaw: Where do you start to look? They were flying over the ocean.
Dwayne Harris: Right.
John Bradshaw: Oceans are big. Where do you... how do you figure out... logistically, how do you figure out where we should be looking?
Dwayne Harris: Well, we looked at a current chart, figuring, well, if they went down here, where would they drift if anyone had gotten out? And so that evening, I marked out, you know, some different areas, and we all converge. So we had four airplanes. And there was another ministry that had an airplane that came down. So, we marked out five different areas, you know, that we would each fly kind of grid patterns and search real thoroughly. And in the morning, we all converged on the area and searched those areas.
John Bradshaw: How big an area were you searching?
Dwayne Harris: We had them marked out, like, 20 square miles each. We would fly back and forth, like, one-mile legs one mile apart. So, you know, at 1,000 feet, you should be able to see anything out there. But, you know, as we're flying out there, you know, 1,000 feet off the water looking, and you don't... there's nothing out there but water, it's like, it seems like there's no way we would find anyone, even if they were out there. And, you know, I was just praying, "Lord, the only way "we're going to find anything is if You can direct, you know, our eyes to where they're at".
John Bradshaw: Were you expecting to find something?
Dwayne Harris: I don't know if I was expecting, but, you know, of course, we're hoping and praying we would.
John Bradshaw: Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm aware, too, as we talk about this, there are people listening who... family of the people who were lost. It's got to be tremendously difficult to hear, I expect, and to...relive. But this is... this is real life, and tragically, tragic things happen. So you're searching. You're convinced now that the worst has happened. Were you convinced?
Dwayne Harris: Yeah, we were.
John Bradshaw: Hopeful, prayerful, but you're experienced.
Dwayne Harris: Right. And, you know, we continued doing everything we thought we could do and kept up these aerial searches, you know, covering everywhere, even down into Malaysian airspace, you know, in case they drifted down into the Malaysian waters. And we got connected with... the US embassy had an airplane with forward-looking infrared on it. And they came out two days in a row. You know, and you can see anything if there's body heat out there. And they didn't see anything, either.
John Bradshaw: Ultimately, what was found? What was recovered?
Dwayne Harris: Well, some fishermen found a pair of shoes that was identified as belonging to the nurse, Janelle, that was on board, and a pillow, which was identified as the patient had brought along with them.
John Bradshaw: And that was it?
Dwayne Harris: That was it.
John Bradshaw: Why so little?
Dwayne Harris: Well, that helicopter, there's basically nothing on it that would float. It's a metal tube frame, so nothing on it that's buoyant at all. And, you know, there's not even, like, panels or anything that could potentially break off in a crash that would float. And if no one got out of the aircraft, there would be nothing that would float.
John Bradshaw: So, very little was found, and you come to the realization that five lives were lost, including two people you worked with. Of course, for the family... the families of Janelle Alder and Daniel Lui... that... can barely imagine. Let me ask you what it's like for you. You knew them. You cared very much for them, worked with them. And you've lost two colleagues. How do you process that?
Dwayne Harris: Well, I guess the way, I guess, process and deal with it is trying to keep, you know, an eternal perspective on things. You know, this life, everything in it, is temporary. You know, even if you live 100 years, you know, it's still temporary.
John Bradshaw: That's right. It's not long in the grand scheme of things.
Dwayne Harris: And, you know, if, you know, someone dies in the Lord and in God's service, you know, the next thing they're going to be seeing is Christ coming in the clouds. So, while it's a loss, and, you know, we miss them and the service they were doing, yet we know, you know, it's only a matter of time before we see them again, and...
John Bradshaw: Tell me about these two young people. Wendy, tell me about Janelle. I never knew her. I know people who knew her, but I didn't know her personally. Tell me about her. What was she like?
Wendy Harris: I didn't know her very well. She was a new missionary, just had been a few months and in a different project. But I had communicated with her a lot through... because she told us well in advance that she was actually dating one of our pilots, Andrew Hosford. And so they were both very careful to let us know about that. And she was asking if she could join our ministry. She was with AFM in the mountains, where I had worked for many years. And so I communicated with her. And I also was able to watch some of the documentaries that God had provided, which was just so nice to be able to see her work with AFM. And the smiles and the care that she had for her patients and the commitment that she had to long-term missions, inspired me, you know, even before this happened. But even after this happened, and the more we learned about her, even though she was younger than me, it's like a hero to me as well. Yeah.
John Bradshaw: So she was special.
Wendy Harris: She was special. Yeah.
John Bradshaw: Yeah, wonderful. Tell me something about Daniel.
Dwayne Harris: Daniel... I got to know Daniel, I think, in 2012. He came over with a couple of other guys and helped put a roof on our hangar that we have at our North Luzon base. And then he came back in 2015, early, right after God had provided us with another red R-44 helicopter. So I trained him in there for the work in Palawan and left him there to do the work with the helicopter there. And so he'd been with us eight years. And, you know, he did a great job. That he flew... there was basically 1,000 hours left on that helicopter when we bought it when he joined us, and he flew that time off it. And then God had provided another helicopter that we kind of replaced that with, which was the one that went down... the yellow Alouette helicopter. And he'd been operating that for about three years.
John Bradshaw: He was very familiar with the machine?
Dwayne Harris: He was much more familiar with that one than I was. And yeah, you know, he was a good pilot, experienced pilot.
John Bradshaw: So let me ask you this question. They couldn't find the helicopter, so nobody could determine a cause of why it went down. Why might it have gone down? What are some of the reasons that a helicopter might come to grief like that?
Dwayne Harris: Well, mechanical is one thing, you know, mechanical malfunctions. There's a lot of moving parts on a helicopter. And, you know, you do your best, and there's life, a time life on a lot of the components and stuff, you know, that you replace to keep something from failing. But the reality is, mechanical things can fail unexpectedly, so, possibly mechanical. You know, weather is one thing. But it didn't seem like weather would have been an issue in that case. So, you know, we can only guess. But if I was to guess, I would guess something mechanical failed.
John Bradshaw: Anyone who flies in any context understands there's risk involved. There's risk involved.
Wendy Harris: Mmm.
John Bradshaw: Then when you operate a ministry dealing with aviation... and we're in the midst of what we refer to as this great controversy between good and evil. This world is a theater. There's evil warring against Christ and everything He stands for. The likelihood of loss, it's something that you've just got to live with. Is it something that missionaries worry about? Today could be my last day. Something could go wrong. Do you ever worry about that as an aviator?
Dwayne Harris: I don't, personally. I suppose some people do. You know, there was... some of our pilots, I think that was on their mind a little bit after this happened, just because, you know, when you lose someone that you've worked with and flown with, I guess you realize... it brings home more our mortality, you know, in this life.
John Bradshaw: The fact is, too, life is risky.
Wendy Harris: Mm-hmm.
John Bradshaw: I remember asking a missionary in some "dangerous" place, "Are you safe there"? He said, "You live in the United States. Are you safe there"? And given the crime rates and so forth that we live in the very midst of, there's nowhere that's without risk.
Dwayne Harris: Right.
John Bradshaw: How do you communicate news like this to family? DWAYNE HARRIS: Well, I think this... I'm trying to remember, but of course, this went out on social media very rapidly...
John Bradshaw: Mmm.
Dwayne Harris: ...almost without our control. So, we tried to communicate directly with the families. And then God provided other connections here in the U.S. that helped them be able to buy tickets and things and come over and visit. And, you know, as part of the grieving process, that's necessary. And, you know, of course, we were praying that something might be found just to help with closure. But while it never has been, you know, God has Hs purposes, and we don't always understand what those are, why He allows things to happen the way they do, but...
John Bradshaw: Do you have moments where you say, "Here we are; "we've left what may have been a comfortable life behind, "if we'd chosen that, to come and serve You, Lord, and now this"? Do you ever have those moments? Did people in that circle have those moments, you know, where you look at God and shake your fist a little bit and say, "How could You"? Have those moments?
Dwayne Harris: I don't think so. I mean, we didn't, for sure. I didn't really get that from any of our other missionaries, either. You know, there was a lot of prayers going up around the world, I know.
John Bradshaw: Yes, absolutely.
Dwayne Harris: And I think a lot of that was due to prayers. You know, God can give us peace and trust in Him, especially when you have a lot of people praying, you know, for you and the situation.
John Bradshaw: Times like this test your faith, don't they? And what I mean by that is this. We know that "all things work together for good". It doesn't mean everything is good.
Dwayne Harris: Yeah.
John Bradshaw: But in all things, God can still be glorified. For you to be operating a ministry and then to go through something like this, I don't want to put the emphasis in the wrong place. The emphasis is on the families who have gone through terrible grief and unimaginable loss. What did you hear in the ministry context? What encouraged you, through this, to believe all things do work together for good? I'm not saying, what good came of this? I think that would be a tacky thing to ask, and I don't mean to ask that. But how did you see the blessing of God, even in a really difficult time?
Dwayne Harris: Well, as, you know, as we're out there searching, praying, you know, we weren't getting, of course, any direct answers to our prayers to find someone or something. And yet...it was just evident that God's hand was guiding this whole situation from the beginning in a lot of ways. There was no negative media publicity, ever, through the whole thing.
John Bradshaw: There could have been, yeah.
Dwayne Harris: There could have been. There was no anger or bitterness from the family, like, that lost the three... the patient, her sister...
John Bradshaw: Yes, and I don't want to forget them. That's another family that went through something terrible.
Dwayne Harris: No bitterness from, you know, that family, in fact, they were speaking positively about, you know, what we were trying to do as a ministry and stuff and helping them. So they weren't blaming us. God was providing financially for some huge financial needs during that time. You know, we were hearing feedback from people around the world saying, you know, this has got people coming together and praying together. And we've seen it be an influence in getting more people to go out and serve full time in foreign missions.
Wendy Harris: Many.
John Bradshaw: A tragedy has prompted more people to serve. You might think the opposite would happen, that people would say, "I can't do that". But it's actually spurred people to want to get involved in serving the Lord in a mission context. That's very encouraging, isn't it? That's very positive. We know that God can bring great things out of tragedy. What I want to encourage people to do is to wait to heaven before we start assessing what all of those things are. When we get to look back on the big picture, then we'll be able to see clearly. Right now we may not be able to see clearly, but we can believe because God assures us. Well, there's a lot more to your ministry. I want to talk with you about the exciting things that are happening now, what have you got going on in the future, and how God is continuing to lead you. With Dwayne and Wendy Harris, I'm John Bradshaw. This is our conversation, brought to you by It Is Written.
John Bradshaw: Welcome back to "Conversations," brought to you by It Is Written. Dwayne and Wendy Harris operate a ministry in the Philippines known as PAMAS, P-A-M-A-S, PAMAS... Philippine Adventist Medical Aviation Service. There is a lot to it, and I want to talk with you about the rest of what you do. You fly. We've talked about the aviation. It's life changing and life saving. You describes PAMAS as a lifeline for many of the islands, where there are no other options. You get up into the mountains. Otherwise, you've got to walk for days and weeks, maybe... days and days, that's for sure. So what else do you do? You are around the Philippines, so where and how?
Dwayne Harris: Well, early on in the ministry, God opened opportunities for us to be involved in stuff outside of aviation. And I just prayed, "Lord, if You open these things up," you know, "give me the faith to step forward and take these opportunities". So we started the ministry in Palawan. That was where that yellow helicopter was and that disappeared. So that's the most developed area. And we've gotten into schools, simple schools, in the mountains. There's five of them now.
John Bradshaw: Operating schools? Okay.
Dwayne Harris: Yeah, for the, you know, indigenous people that live up... and it's a long hike for them if they're going to go down to the government schools.
John Bradshaw: Yeah. So what typically happens if they're way up there in a remote place? What typically happens if it's a long hike? My guess is they just don't go to school. Is that right?
Wendy Harris: Sometimes they'll find places to stay down in the lowlands.
John Bradshaw: So they have to be separated from their families for a long time? Okay.
Wendy Harris: Right. They get into the bad habits of the lowlands. And sometimes they'll try to hike back and forth over rivers and dangerous... you know, even when they're little.
John Bradshaw: Oh.
Wendy Harris: So it's dangerous, and it takes a long time. And yeah... or they just don't go to school, many of them.
John Bradshaw: Yeah. So what kind of people are we talking about here? What do they do, occupation-wise?
Wendy Harris: They are farmers and...
John Bradshaw: Subsistence farmers?
Wendy Harris: Subsistence farmers, yep.
John Bradshaw: OK, and they're just living out there to support themselves. They have their way of life, and that's that. What would that look like to somebody like me, coming from the West, that way of life? What would it look like, Wendy?
Wendy Harris: It is very, very different.
John Bradshaw: Is it? Primitive?
Wendy Harris: Living in... yeah, the typical... what you think of, the hut with the grass roof and very small one room with the whole family, with the chickens running around. They have one pot, one machete, one change of clothes, if they're lucky... very simple lives.
John Bradshaw: Yeah, so you're ministering to people in those kinds of regions. OK, so you're providing an education for people who otherwise wouldn't get education. Now, my understanding is you have more than one air base, right? So how far are they scattered?
Dwayne Harris: Well, the second air base was up in north Luzon. It's about 450 miles to the north. And then the third air base is in Mindanao. It's about 400 miles to the east of Palawan. So it's kind of actually in a triangle, as far as distance goes.
John Bradshaw: Yeah.
Dwayne Harris: And we have a fourth new one near Manila. It was an already-existing airstrip and stuff. So it didn't take a whole lot of infrastructure to do anything there. It was just kind of placing a plane and pilot.
John Bradshaw: So are you saying that, in other places, you had to get in there and even develop airstrips?
Dwayne Harris: Right. Yeah, we built them from nothing, so putting in airstrips, building hangars, housing, all...
John Bradshaw: You know, it just occur... it seems to me that putting in an airstrip, not that easy. I mean, is that... is it? Is it simple, or is it complex, or is it really complex?
Dwayne Harris: Well, it's not real simple, but it takes a lot of work. And usually, you have to have heavy equipment and dozers.
John Bradshaw: How long are the airstrips? DWAYNE HARRIS: 2,000 to 3,000 feet.
John Bradshaw: Oh, they're long enough. And what kind of planes are you flying in there?
Dwayne Harris: Most of them are single-engine Cessnas, Cessna 182s, 206s, 172s, 180s.
John Bradshaw: And you're a mechanic. My guess is having a similar kind of plane makes it, from a mechanic's point of view, a little easier?
Dwayne Harris: Yeah, all the single-engine Cessnas are... the main design is very similar. So while they have different capacities, it's still... everything is kind of modeled the same on them, so...
John Bradshaw: OK, so now we've got aviation. We have education. What else?
Dwayne Harris: We have a bunch of Bible workers that we sponsor and that have done multiple church plants in different areas.
John Bradshaw: So let me ask you this. You're an aviation ministry. Why... OK, Wendy, explain what a Bible worker does. Not everybody knows.
Wendy Harris: Basically, they go out and meet the community and become friends and offer to study the Bible with them, take time with them until they know about God. And if they decide to make a decision for God, then, you know, like, a group of people start to gather, and a church plant begins.
John Bradshaw: OK, OK. Why would you guys do that? You're down there flying planes and helicopters. Seems to me that that's a full-time job. You've got some schools that you're keeping ticking over there, providing an education to people who otherwise wouldn't get one. So this is not merely an aviation industry. This is very much a gospel ministry. How and why did you get into sponsoring Bible workers?
Dwayne Harris: Early on, when we were developing our first airbase there in Palawan, they were doing an evangelistic series. And they had sponsored some Bible workers for a few months. And then, you know, they had their series. And then there wasn't any more funds. And we thought these guys need to keep doing what they were doing. And so we stepped in and started supporting them. And we've continued doing that, and, you know, picked up more and more over the years just...
John Bradshaw: How has that grown? Roughly how many Bible workers do you have at... and I'm sure that number fluctuates... but how many are we looking at here?
Dwayne Harris: I think we have six or seven now.
John Bradshaw: All right.
Wendy Harris: Maybe 10 church plants.
John Bradshaw: 10 church plants?
Wendy Harris: Approximately, yeah.
John Bradshaw: Well, that's pretty exciting! Planting congregations, there's been almost a dozen already?
Dwayne Harris: Mm-hmm.
John Bradshaw: Wow, all right. Now, how long do we keep going? How many other strings on this bow are there?
Dwayne Harris: Well, we have a missionary training center we're developing.
John Bradshaw: Where that is that? Is that in Mindanao?
Wendy Harris: North.
Dwayne Harris: That's in north Luzon.
John Bradshaw: North Luzon. And for the uninitiated, the island of Luzon...
Dwayne Harris: It's the far north island where Manila is. And it's the big north island.
John Bradshaw: That's the big one. So what is gospel missionary training? What are we doing there?
Dwayne Harris: Well, teaching them basic skills with agriculture, with... there's kind of different tracks, but with simple medical missionary type stuff, mechanic, construction, and teaching them how to go into a community and use those skills to help the people and connect with them, and then being able to share spiritual things, you know, do Bible studies and stuff like that.
John Bradshaw: Philippines is a place where the church is very active. There's a lot of evangelistic outreach. In fact, while we sit here, an It Is Written short-term mission team is either leaving, or is very close to leaving, for the island of...
Wendy Harris: Mindanao?
John Bradshaw: Mindanao. And they'll be there doing all kinds of things for the purpose of sharing Jesus and calling people to follow Hm. As you guys look into the future... and I don't know how far ahead you look... I expect, as an organization, you have a short-term view and then maybe some long-term plans. If there were no impediments to you doing all you would like to do, what would you like to do?
Dwayne Harris: We'd like to set up another airbase in the Visayas, which is the central part of the country, you know, to accomplish essentially the same thing, but, you know, using the emergency medical evacuation services to open doors. I mean, it's done amazing things. There's one area where the only access is by air or boat. It's actually the east coast of Luzon. It's cut off by a mountain range. No roads go across there. So the only way, quick, to get out is by plane. And there was a... the church work has struggled, really struggled, in that area. And there was a new pastor they put over there. And this was soon after we had a plane that we had based full time there. And he was praying, you know, what he could do to really connect with the people there. And he was convicted that he needed to work with us closely. And so he'd called and talked to us and talked with the local clinic and government and stuff. And so if there was ever any emergency medical needs, they would call him. He would call us. We'd fly over. And he was always there, you know, to help with the patient transfer into the airplane and to meet them coming back. And over a few years, that completely broke down barriers in that whole community. And he was telling me, he's like, "I don't ever go out asking people if they want to study the Bible with me". He's like, "People are coming to me... "'Hey, pastor, when can you come visit us? We want to study the Bible.'"
John Bradshaw: How fantastic.
Dwayne Harris: And there's been well over 400 baptisms over the last, like, three or four years in that area. And he has, like, eight or nine different little groups that he's studying with scattered out through the country.
John Bradshaw: Magnificent.
Dwayne Harris: And there's not roads. So he's walking a lot of these places. How far... go ahead, Wendy.
Wendy Harris: He attributes that work, you know, going forward finally to the aviation work.
John Bradshaw: Yes.
Wendy Harris: And we just see how this creative type of ministry can open doors that...
John Bradshaw: It does open doors, doesn't it? You get an opportunity to minister to people's needs, and deeply held, desperately felt needs, too, I mean, helping the sick, opening doors to another world for... what I mean is to the rest of the world for a variety of reasons. It's not small stuff. This is big stuff.
Dwayne Harris: Yeah. The Lord has been blessing despite challenges.
John Bradshaw: OK, I've got to ask you this, because we only have about five minutes left. I want you to tell me a mission story from the Philippines, preferably involving PAMAS. Tell me a mission story.
Dwayne Harris: To tell you a story... it wasn't us personally, but it was one of our other pilots and his wife.
John Bradshaw: Yeah, OK.
Dwayne Harris: So at our north Luzon base, they were still, you know, making connections with different areas that needed, you know, the medical evacuation services that we can do with the airplane. There's a little group of islands in between Taiwan and the north end of Luzon. They're very small islands. And they have a commercial flight that comes in there, but they won't carry seriously ill, you know, medical patients, because... you know, I don't know what all the reasons are, but we wanted to go up there and, you know, offer, you know, our services. You know, if they have any needs, they can call us, and we'll come up there, and so Ray had asked me, you know, when he should go up there and try to have a meeting, you know, with the mayor and the people up there. And I told him, "Well, I don't know. "Just pick a day when the weather's nice, "and, you know, pray about it and go up there and see what you can learn". And so they prayed and picked a day and flew up there. And the airport's right, you know, in the middle of the town, pretty much. And they walked over to the municipal hall. And there was only, like, a couple people around, but they talked to a secretary who was asking him, you know, what they were wanting, who they were wanting to talk to and stuff. And so they told him. And so he disappeared for a little bit and came back with another guy. And that guy asked them the same thing. And he was like, "Wow, this is amazing". He's like, "Come, follow me". And so he took them back up to this room where they were have... everyone was gathered having this meeting. And he's like, "OK, tell everyone, you know, what you're here for". And so they did, you know, explain, you know, about the ministry: "And we do medical evac, emergency medical evacuation stuff". And the mayor, he was like, "Who told you to come up here today? And he's like, "Well, no one. You know, we just prayed and came up". And he was like, "That's amazing". He's like, "You know what reason we're having this meeting "right now? We've had several people die recently "because we couldn't get them off the island. "And we're trying to figure out how we can transport emergency medical cases off of the island". And so it was clearly... God was, you know, divinely guiding the timing of these things down to the minute, almost. It was really amazing just, you know, how God made that connection at that perfect time.
John Bradshaw: When you put yourself out there to be used by God, God uses you. And when you need a miracle, God so frequently provides. And you've seen God's hand working all over the place. OK, so people who want to support you, how do they do that?
Dwayne Harris: Well, we have an organization we work with called AngelOne. And they're a nonprofit both in the US and Canada. And they're supporting, you know, a channel for donations to go through. And they're supporting us a lot of ways, you know, with the aviation aspect, specifically, of our ministry.
John Bradshaw: OK. But I still want to know how people can support you. So do we go online, or find you in the Yellow Pages? You tell me.
Wendy Harris: We have a website: pamasmission.org.
John Bradshaw: pamasmission... P-A-M-A-S... mission.org?
Wendy Harris: That's right.
John Bradshaw: All right. So they'll find you there?
Wendy Harris: They'll find everything there, mm-hmm.
John Bradshaw: Yeah? And any other avenue?
Dwayne Harris: And the AngelOne has a website. It's angeloneonline.org.
John Bradshaw: Is it angel the number "1" or A-N-G-E-L-O-N-E? BOTH: O-N-E.
John Bradshaw: OK angeloneonline.org, and there people can help you out. Hey, fantastic. So you're as enthusiastic about missions as you've ever been?
Wendy Harris: Mm-hmm.
John Bradshaw: Yeah?
Dwayne Harris: Yeah. You know, sometimes the devil tries to discourage you. But just keep looking up, and God is always there to bring that peace and encouragement that we need.
John Bradshaw: He is always there. I wish you the very best. Dwayne Harris, Wendy Harris, thank you. This has been a great joy. I appreciate you taking your time.
Dwayne Harris: Thank you.
John Bradshaw: Thank you. And thank you. Always fun to have you here, and I hope you have been blessed. From PAMAS missions, they are Dwayne and Wendy Harris. I'm John Bradshaw, and this has been our conversation.